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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Next-Generation Field Guides, Elizabeth J. Farnsworth, Miyoko Chu, W. John Kress, Amanda K. Neill, Jason H. Best, John Pickering, Robert D. Stevenson, Gregory W. Courtney, John K. Vandyk, Aaron M. Ellison Oct 2014

Next-Generation Field Guides, Elizabeth J. Farnsworth, Miyoko Chu, W. John Kress, Amanda K. Neill, Jason H. Best, John Pickering, Robert D. Stevenson, Gregory W. Courtney, John K. Vandyk, Aaron M. Ellison

John K. VanDyk

To conserve species, we must first identify them. Field researchers, land managers, educators, and citizen scientists need up-to-date and accessible tools to identify organisms, organize data, and share observations. Emerging technologies complement traditional, book-form field guides by providing users with a wealth of multimedia data. We review technical innovations of next-generation field guides, including Web-based and stand-alone applications, interactive multiple-access keys, visual-recognition software adapted to identify organisms, species checklists that can be customized to particular sites, online communities in which people share species observations, and the use of crowdsourced data to refine machine-based identification algorithms. Next-generation field guides are user …


Subterranean Species Of Acipes Attems, 1937 (Diplopoda, Julida, Blaniulidae), Henrik Enghoff, Ana Reboleira Apr 2013

Subterranean Species Of Acipes Attems, 1937 (Diplopoda, Julida, Blaniulidae), Henrik Enghoff, Ana Reboleira

Ana Sofia P.S. Reboleira

Two new blind, cave-dwelling species of the genus Acipes Attems, 1937, are described from the Algarve, southern Portugal: A. machadoi n. sp. and A. bifilum n. sp. Acipes andalusius Enghoff & Mauriès, 1999, is reported from the mesovoid shallow substratum in Alicante (Spain), 250 km from the type locality in Andalusia.


The Genus Boreviulisoma Brolemann, 1928—An Iberian-N African Outlier Of A Mainly Tropical Tribe Of Millipedes (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), Ana Reboleira, Henrik Enghoff Apr 2013

The Genus Boreviulisoma Brolemann, 1928—An Iberian-N African Outlier Of A Mainly Tropical Tribe Of Millipedes (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), Ana Reboleira, Henrik Enghoff

Ana Sofia P.S. Reboleira

The genus Boreviulisoma Brolemann, 1928, is revised. The synonymy of Liliputia Attems, 1952, under Boreviulisoma is confirmed, but L. badia Attems, 1951, from Spain, is resurrected, as Boreviulisoma badium, from synonymy under B. liouvilleiBrolemann, 1928 (the type species of Boreviulisoma) from Morocco. Boreviulisoma barrocalense n. sp. is described from the subterranean environment of the Algarve, the southernmost province of Portugal. The distribution of the three known species of Boreviulisoma is mapped, main characters of the genus and its species are reviewed and a key to species of the genus is included. The isolated occurrence of Boreviulisoma badium and B. barrocalense …


Phylotastic! Making Tree-Of-Life Knowledge Accessible, Reusable And Convenient, Arlin Stoltzfus, Hilmar Lapp, Helena Deus, Brian Sidlauskas, Christian M. Zmasek, Gaurav Vaidya, Enrico Pontelli, Karen Cranston, Rutger Vos, Campbell O. Webb, Luke J. Harmon, Megan Pirrung, Brian O'Meara, Matthew W. Pennell, Siavash Mirarab, Michael S. Rosenburg, James P. Balhoff, Holly M. Bik, Tracy A. Heath, Peter E. Midford, Joseph W. Brown, Emily Jane Mctavish, Jeet Sukumaran, Mark Westneat, Michael E. Alfaro, Aaron Steele, Greg Jordan Dec 2012

Phylotastic! Making Tree-Of-Life Knowledge Accessible, Reusable And Convenient, Arlin Stoltzfus, Hilmar Lapp, Helena Deus, Brian Sidlauskas, Christian M. Zmasek, Gaurav Vaidya, Enrico Pontelli, Karen Cranston, Rutger Vos, Campbell O. Webb, Luke J. Harmon, Megan Pirrung, Brian O'Meara, Matthew W. Pennell, Siavash Mirarab, Michael S. Rosenburg, James P. Balhoff, Holly M. Bik, Tracy A. Heath, Peter E. Midford, Joseph W. Brown, Emily Jane Mctavish, Jeet Sukumaran, Mark Westneat, Michael E. Alfaro, Aaron Steele, Greg Jordan

Tracy Heath

Background
Scientists rarely reuse expert knowledge of phylogeny, in spite of years ofeffort to assemble a great “Tree of Life” (ToL). A notableexception involves the use of Phylomatic, which provides tools togenerate custom phylogenies from a large, pre-computed, expert phylogeny ofplant taxa. This suggests great potential for a more generalized systemthat, starting with a query consisting of a list of any known species, wouldrectify non-standard names, identify expert phylogenies containing theimplicated taxa, prune away unneeded parts, and supply branch lengths andannotations, resulting in a custom phylogeny suited to the user’sneeds. Such a system could become a sustainable community resource ifimplemented …


This Shrew Is A Jumping Mouse (Mammalia, Dipodidae): Sorex Dichrurus Rafinesque, 1833 Is A Synonym Of Zapus Hudsonius (Zimmermann, 1780), Neal Woodman Dec 2011

This Shrew Is A Jumping Mouse (Mammalia, Dipodidae): Sorex Dichrurus Rafinesque, 1833 Is A Synonym Of Zapus Hudsonius (Zimmermann, 1780), Neal Woodman

Neal Woodman

Constantine S. Rafinesque described Sorex dichrurus as a shrew in 1833, based on a specimen he found in a proprietary museum near Niagara Falls on the New York/Ontario border. The name subsequently has been ignored by the scientific community. By describing this specimen as a shrew and ascribing it to the genus Sorex, Rafinesque clearly indicated that his species should be considered a member of the taxonomic family now recognized as the Soricidae (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla). Yet, the description of the animal, and its comparison to ‘‘Gerbillus,’’ clearly identify it as a dipodid rodent, specifically Zapus hudsonius (Zimmermann, 1780); S. dichrurus …


A New Genus To Accommodate Gymnopus Acervatus (Agaricales), Karen Hughes, David A. Mather, Ronald H. Peterson Jan 2010

A New Genus To Accommodate Gymnopus Acervatus (Agaricales), Karen Hughes, David A. Mather, Ronald H. Peterson

Karen Hughes

Phylogenies based on ITS and LSU nrDNA sequences show Agaricus (Gymnopus) acervatus as unique within the Gymnopus/Rhodocollybia complex. These phylogenies imply that a separate genus is necessary, and Connopus is proposed. Infraspecific morphological and DNA-based variation within C. acervatus suggests that a western North American clade might be reproductively isolated from the eastern North American/Scandinavian clade and that in this species complex the European and eastern North American clade might be conspecific. A Scandinavian exemplar is selected for bar-coding. Two GenBank sequences with name-phylogenetic placement inconsistencies are identified.


Frogs Of The Genus Eleutherodactylus (Leptodactyl Idae) In The Cordillera Occidental In Peru With Descriptions Of Three New Species, Edgar Lehr, William E. Duellman Jun 2007

Frogs Of The Genus Eleutherodactylus (Leptodactyl Idae) In The Cordillera Occidental In Peru With Descriptions Of Three New Species, Edgar Lehr, William E. Duellman

Edgar Lehr

Three new species of Eleutherodactylus are described from the Rio Zana Valley in the Pacific versant of the Cordillera Occidental in the Departamento de Cajamarca, Peru. One of the species is a member of the Eleutherodactylus conspicillatus Group, and two are members of the Eleutherodactylus unstrigatus Group.We recognize 15 species of Eleutherodactylus in the Cordillera Occidental; 10 of these species are reported for the first time from the Cordillera Occidental. Four of these species are shared with the Cordillera Occidental in Ecuador, and five are shared with the Cordillera de Huancabamba in northern Peru.